Mega consolidations in forecast

Approval of the AT&T-Time Warner mega-merger sent shockwaves through the media industry. Here's some takeaways:

The deal allows AT&T, a phone and pay-TV giant, to absorb the owner of CNN, HBO, the Warner Bros. movie studio, “Game of Thrones,” coveted sports programming and other “must-see” shows.

Time Warner gained as much as 5.8 percent in afterhours trading, while AT&T fell as much as 3.9 percent.

Look out Amazon. AT&T can now feed Time Warner programming like HBO and CNN to its 119 million mobile, internet and video customers, and go headto-head with Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

The judge's decision could open the door to other mergers, including Comcast Corp. making a formal bid for 21st Century Fox.

AT&T's ownership of DirecTV gives it leverage over other distributors that want Time Warner content.

AT&T says it will complete its purchase of Time Warner by June 20.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected the government's argument that the AT&T-Time Warner combination would hurt competition in pay TV and cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars more to stream TV and movies.

The Department of Justice said it is “disappointed” with the decision and could appeal.